Tabs

16 January 2017

The use of several brand names for, in essence, the same product is a common strategy of manufacturers. We have already seen how Platinum used names as Piiton or 555 or President for some products, particularly outside Japan. Nowadays, Nakaya could be seen as the luxury division of Platinum, much as Namiki with respect to Pilot.

Sailor also used this strategy in the past. Roxy and Seaman were two of those brands.

In the 1930s, one of those secondary brands was “Roxy”, and apparently was used for non-Japanese markets. The pen on display today is a remarkable example.

The barrel clearly say where it was not made: "MADE ABROAD".

The brand name is written on the nib and on the barrel, and on both cases it is followed by a curious lemma: “made abroad”. For the rest, this is a simple eyedropper pen, with no shut-off valve. It is built in the fashion of the popular Duofold models so often copied in Japan at the time, but the “Roxy” has the added appeal of being urushi coated.

The inscription reads "14 CRT GOLD / ROXY / BEST QUALITY / MADE / ABROAD". The nib is not dated.

“Made abroad” instead of “made in Japan”. And this poses an obvious question—abroad, but with respect to where? Where were Japanese companies selling their goods in the pre-war and war years? Was this inscription intended to hide its Japanese origin? Some other pen at the time did not bother hiding that information.